Okay....Progress is good... Both rocker shafts have WAY more than .004. There is a guy who lives by me who is in to vw's and he told me from when it was pretty much new that it sounded like the valves were out of adustment or something. Of course I went home and checked them when it cooled off and they were fine. This must have been the noise he was hearing and I am guessing it just got worse. Can I send somebody some high-res images of those rockers. Maybe you can tell me if they are anything special or something. The washers that are in the rail look fine (though some appear to be thicker than others). I don't see how I could have broken any without a single trace in either valve cover. I even looked down the pushrod tubes with a flashlight and didn't see anything. Could they have just worn thin and not broke yet?

It was just bad assembly. It is a lot of work to do this correctly. To get it where I want I often have to take material off the rocker pedestals and the shims with a surface grinder.

Is there a quality replacement set that are bolt on that this won't happen again??? Preferably not for a ton of money. I hope this is the problem.

As long as they are not damaged the parts you have you have should be fine. I may not have been clear. When I said bad assembly I meant by the person who assembled the rocker shafts not the parts.

Check! Last questions to get something accomplished...Are these special washers/ where can I get a couple more to fill the voids and what is the optimum end play? And can they go anywhere as long as I make aligning the rocker arms the important part.....................................That is about it for now. Thanks perrib and everyone else for your help and patience.

Steal some from another rocker shaft assembly. CB Performance, Gene Berg, Bug Pack sell them in bags with .015, .030, .060 sizes. About .004 to.005 clearance per rocker should keep them quiet. You might have to sand them on a flat piece of glass to get the clearance you want.

What you have are solid rocker shaft assemblies. You can see the bolts in the ends. There are no stock hair pin clips or wavy washers. The different washer thicknesses are part of rocker geometry. Center of adjusting screw should be a few 0.00 's to right of valve center, (which couses valve to spin a bit). Measure clearance's with shafts installed, so rocker blocks don't move.

Thanks for the tip. I was wondering about that as well. I am trying to get an engine stand set up so I can run the engine. Either that or I have to wait until the end of the season and pull the engine off one of my buddies buggies and make it a stand.